


Thank god Dasha said no when Burger and Vang0 wanted to book it, right? Right??

by cyberdumb



Category: Let's Play Cyberpunk Red - Polygon (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Road Trips, What-If, but basically what if dasha said "yes" when burger and vang0 wanted to run away?, i honestly don't know how to tag??, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:09:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25128283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyberdumb/pseuds/cyberdumb
Summary: “You want to destroy the vehicles of the second largest security company in Night City and run away, after an attack has been done on their warehouse while we were inside it, after we told them how their robbery was committed? That’s what you want to do?” Dasha asked, completely taken aback by the plan proposed by her two associates, “that’s your plan?”“Yes.” Vang0 and Burger said at the same time, Burger’s eyes fixed on the Harp Co. vehicle in front of them."Fuck it, let's do it."or, alternatively, the one where Dasha said yes.
Relationships: Vang0 Bang0/Burger Chainz
Comments: 24
Kudos: 61





	1. Dasha says yes

**Author's Note:**

> this is i think the first multichapter fic i'm going to put any amount of work into, if i ever abandon it just pretend you never read it and turn the other way; this is a pretty short chapter because it's more like an introduction rather than an actual first chapter. also for the sake of everything, i have decided that in this universe americans have finally learned how to use the metric system, 'cause i can't be bothered to convert measuremens

“You want to destroy the vehicles of the second largest security company in Night City and run away, after an attack has been done on their warehouse while we were inside it, after we told them how their robbery was committed? That’s what you want to do?” Dasha asked, completely taken aback by the plan proposed by her two associates, “that’s your plan?”

The question was followed by an uncomfortable but short silence inside of the van. Her shocked eyes were inspecting Burger from the passenger seat she was sitting on, while the other was holding his agent, obviously streaming, ready to commit to the new and improvised plan.

“Yes.” Vang0 and Burger said at the same time, the driver’s eyes fixed on the Harp Co. vehicle in front of them.

Dasha sighed, her fingers went to her temples. She knew how stupid that plan sounded, she knew how they could resolve the situation without risking their lives. She was well aware of that, and yet the sudden rush of adrenaline she felt coming from the mere idea of running away from that situation was something she couldn’t ignore. All she had to say was either yes, or no.

“Fuck it, let’s do it.”

“Wait, really?” Burger was actually surprised at the fact that she had agreed to the plan.

“Yeah, but let’s do it before I start regretting it.”

Burger was basically beaming with joy, but he tried to keep his cool as to not ruin the plan “Vang0, get back there and tell me when you’re ready to pull the hitch off”

Vang0 had slept on the van’s backseat after being evicted for not paying rent more times than he’d be proud to admit, therefore he knew the van almost as well as Burger did. Therefore he knew that the middle seat had a small, hidden lever, that when pulled would make the seat collapse onto itself, and give him easy access to the trunk. So he pulled the lever, and a moment later there he was crouching into the van’s trunk, left arm away from him to get a better angle for the stream, sitting between all the various junk that Burger kept in that trunk.

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this, we’re gonna die”

“I mean, who knows, we could actually pull it off.” Burger tried being reassuring, but at that moment it felt more difficult than usual “‘Bout that, how’s it going back there, Vang0?”

“Get ready for some Vang0 action, baby,” he opened the trunk door from inside, not fully, but just enough that his arm could get through and, while holding the door down with his left arm, he easily reached the trailer hitch with his right hand. “Okay Burg, tell me when”

“So, when Vang0 pulls it off, it’ll take a moment for it to crash because of inertia or whatever,” Dasha started,“at that moment, we’ll have two options: we simply take the next exit and run the fuck away, or we wait for the guys in front of us to take their exit and we keep driving on the highway”

“Or we go ham and start a car chase,” Vang0 voiced from the back.

Burger looked hopeful, “now, I’m always down for a chase.” he quickly glanced at Dasha, who gave him the death glare, “...but my instinct tells me that it’s not the best idea”

“If we take the next exit can we go to my place for a moment so I can at least grab some stuff? If we have to leave because of this whole mess, then let’s fucking leave properly”

“I mean, we can try.” Burger tried being reassuring, “Vang0? You okay with taking the next exit and going back downtown?”

“Yes, yes! Let’s fucking do it, I don’t care, my arm is getting tired”

Burger thought that his entire life had culminated exactly in that moment, he had never been more ready for anything in his entire life. His right foot steady on the gas pedal, waiting for the right moment. “I need y’all to tell me you’re 100% sure you wanna do this, once Vang0 pulls the hitch off there’s not turning back.”

Dasha turned her head to look at Vang0, his hand was out of the trunk. In the darkness of the trunk she could see that he was looking back at her, she had never seen him this determined.

“100% sure” she heard him say. He truly meant it.

“We might have to disappear from Night City for a long time,” Dasha stated, “you won’t be able to connect to the Night City network, you won’t be able to moderate your forum or stream on Jumptrash until we come back, Vang0, I need you to be aware of how much you’re giving up.”

His eyes went from Dasha to Burger. He took a moment to think about it, but he had already made his decision, “that doesn’t change my answer.”

She sighed, then turned her head back to an impatient but understanding Burger, “it’s okay if you don’t wanna, I mean-”

“I’m 100% sure.”

Burger took a deep breath in, he saw the sign for the next exit. 750 metres. Deep breath out. He loved that boat so much.

“Vang0? Get ready”

“I’ve been ready my whole life, babe”

A beat.

Next exit: 500 metres.

“Pull it”

And that was it. The trailer’s wheels kept going, but very slowly the boat got further away from the van, and closer to the Harp Co. vehicle. Burger hoped that the driver of the vehicle in front of them didn’t notice that his van was slowing down ever so slightly.

250 metres.

Vang0 in the meantime had closed the trunk and moved back to the backseat, still streaming. Dasha couldn’t believe what they were doing.

Burger took the exit, and watched through the mirror as the van crashed into the boat. His boat.

There was no explosion, but Dasha and Vang0 couldn’t keep their eyes off of the crash for as long as it was in their field of vision. And even once they were too far away to see it, their eyes were still fixed on the point where they originally saw it. No turning back.

In a matter of seconds they could see the city limit, they were actually going back in, risking being seen, or worse, caught.

The three of them felt like they were in a pressure cooker, silently waiting for the van itself to blow up, until Vang0’s voice broke the silence, “well, that was easier than I thought it would be”

“We’re not even close to it being over, Vang0” Dasha knew that that was only the beginning of something they surely were not ready for.

“Where to next, then?”

Dasha looked out of the window, “my place, we need as much stuff, and money, as possible. Your place too, if you need to take anything”

“Do we even have enough time?”

“I have a plan, don’t worry."

“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” he sounded excited, but Dasha was worried.

“Yeah, me neither.”

Burger finally spoke for the first time ever since they put the plan into action, “I’m gonna miss that boat so much.”

“Oh shut up, you don’t even know how to ride it”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as you've definitely noticed, english is not at all my first language, so if i make any mistakes or i repeat the same words a lot, simply pretend you don’t see it
> 
> me: don't do it don't do it don't do it
> 
> my fart brain: vang0 calls burger "babe" on the first chapter
> 
> my tumblr is @nuncupatio btw


	2. Vang0 Bang0 does a cool thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey uh real quick if you could just pretend that VPNs don't exist in this world, thank you

Once back downtown, Vang0 started feeling anxious, he hadn’t realized already how much he was leaving behind. He could’ve been the best hacker in the whole world, but once out of Night City’s network reach, he was nothing. Burger knew how to exist without a connection, he grew up on a farm, he could easily go back to living without it. And as for Dasha, losing the connection to Night City’s servers was nothing compared to what she had lost before Vang0 even met her, her entire life, basically.

Sure, there are other networks around the US, every city big enough to afford any type of LAN has one, but it just wasn’t the same. Servers weren’t interconnected between cities, not anymore, after most of them were destroyed by the virus. Which meant no more Jumptrash, no more streaming, no more Fan Cam, no more Vang0.

“Vang0, did you hear what I said?” Dasha’s voice was uncharacteristically apprehensive.

He hesitated, he tried recollecting the word she’d just said, “uhm… yeah, yeah. Burger drops you three blocks before your apartment, then drops me three blocks away from mine, so they can’t follow us to where we live, and he keeps driving for a while-”

“15 minutes, you have 15 minutes to reach your place and take everything you can get, make them count”

“Yeah, yeah, then we meet again in front of the square-”

“The Cube.”

“Huh?”

“The Cube, it’s the bar literally in front of your building, Vang0”

“No need to yell” but did she actually shout at him, or was that just his anxiety playing tricks on him?

“I’m not- okay, whatever. 15 minutes, The Cube. Burger, don’t stop driving for any reason at all.”

“Again, what if they see me driving around?”

“Constantly moving is better than being still, if any security camera filmed the van parked somewhere, they’d catch us more easily, got it?”

He nodded, “Alright. Dasha, ready to get out,” she glanced at him, hand on the door handle, waiting for him to stop near the curb. As soon as he did, she jumped out of the van, and sprinted to her apartment, disappearing behind the corner in a matter of seconds. Burger kept on driving, now alone with Vang0.

“You okay there, buddy?” he could sense that there was something wrong with Vang0, but he couldn’t figure out what.

“I’m just worried, ‘s all” he tried shrugging the feeling of impending doom off.

“That’s alright, we all are. It’s gonna be okay though, we’re just leaving for a while”

Vang0 didn’t want to say what all three of them were actually thinking, but his mouth was too quick for his brain to stop it, “I don’t think we’ll be able to come back, Burg”

He didn’t know how to reply to that.

The van stopped three blocks before Vang0’s place, he quietly stepped out and started running towards his building. Burger kept on driving. He decided to drive through the poorer neighborhoods, where there was way less surveillance, so he didn’t have to worry much about being seen.

Everything was going smoothly and according to plan, so he wasn’t as worried as he imagined he would, or should, be. Well, everything  _ seemed  _ to be going smoothly, until he heard the city sirens go off with a loud noise, and then stop immediately. Burger looked up, exactly where he knew he had to look, and right there, projected on the side of the biggest skyscraper in Night City, which was so huge you could see it clearly even from 5 miles away, there it was.

A picture of him, Vang0, Dasha, and, worst of all, his van. Their names written right under their faces. On top of it, just one word: “Wanted”.

People on the street did the exact same thing as he did, looked up and observed the sign. Then everyone looked back down and now they were staring at him. Everyone saw. Everyone knew. And everyone was now looking for them.

Burger could physically feel the panic hitting him as if he’d just jumped in front of a train. The fifteen minutes were far from being over, so he did the most rational thing he could think of and called both Dasha and Vang0 on his agent.

“Fuck, did you see it too?” Vang0’s voice greeted him.

“What’s going-”

“Dasha, look out of the window” Burger sounded impatient over the agent.

Dasha did just that, and as soon as she saw the huge picture of her face right there to be seen for everyone, she realized how much shit they were actually in. Weeks spent trying to get every single piece of information about her deleted forever from everywhere, and there she was, up in the sky, visible to everyone, with her entire legal name right under it. It was a nightmare.

“Shit, get to the meeting point immediately, we need to go, now.” She ran out of the door with her entire life packed in a duffle bag and a backpack. She didn’t even bother locking the door.

“Wait, are those sirens?” Vang0’s voice asked. Dasha could hear sirens coming from her agent, “those are not city sirens, I can't hear them from here.”

“No, uh” Burger sounded even more alarmed than before, “it’s cops, I’m being chased by cops, currently- yep.”

“Are you kidding?”

“How did they fucking get the cops involved already?” Dasha said to herself while running down the street. Despite the bags, she was still as fast as usual, in less than a minute she could see The Cube, and then Vang0 running towards the building. They could hear the faint sound of the police sirens in the distance, Burger was getting closer.

“I’ll open the back door, you two are gonna have to jump in, okay?”

“Roger that”

Except that when Dasha arrived in front of The Cube, and started looking for Vang0, she was instead greeted by four police officers. One grabbed her by her left arm and attempted putting handcuffs on her wrists, but she was quick enough to pull out her pistol from the duffle bag with her free hand, and shoot at the officer’s leg, who released her immediately.

As she turned to point the weapon towards one of the other three officers, who in turn were pulling out theirs, Vang0 appeared behind the other two and even though she couldn’t see his hands, she figured out he was pointing both his pistol and his SMG at their backs, then he forced the three cops to put their weapons to the ground and then their hands up.

In the distance Dasha saw Burger’s van approaching, followed by the sirens.

“Let’s get out of here, before more of them arrive.” Dasha shouted at him. Everyone around them was looking at them, but no one dared do anything as they both got off the sidewalk and started running like hell on the side of the road, in the same direction that Burger was driving towards, so that the van wouldn’t have to slow down too much to make them jump in.

“You shot at a cop.” Vang0 said while running behind Dasha.

“Yup, and you pulled both of your guns out and threatened two of them.” A short pause, then “thanks for saving my ass, by the way.”

The van was getting closer to them, Vang0’s heart was pounding in his chest, his backpack felt heavy and he wasn’t used to running, but the adrenaline rush made him feel as if he could run an entire marathon and not get tired. With a jump, first Vang0 and then Dasha found themselves inside the van, welcomed by a Burger whose worry had been replaced by the thrill of running away from cops with his two best friends, “ev’rybody in?”

The other two didn’t even have time to reply, that he had already sunk his foot over the gas pedal, making the both of them fall back on the seats.

“You can’t go 90 miles per hour in downtown Night City!” Dasha exclaimed.

“Who says I can’t?”

“I do, I say you can’t!”

“You’re gonna get us killed” Vang0 pulled out his agent, who had been streaming the entire time, and started reading the stream chat.

“Vang0, your stream!”

He turned to Dasha, “huh?”

“That’s how they know where we are”

“Shit.”

“Turn it off now!”

“But…”

“Vang0, please, we can’t risk it, turn it off”

He looked at the screen. Sighed audibly and pressed the “end stream” button. That was probably going to be his last stream for a long time. He looked at his agent sadly, as if he had just abandoned his own child. He decided to log onto Jumptrash for one last time, before having to leave it for no one knows how long.

He scrolled through some posts, he wanted to read them, but between the loud sirens behind them, the sound of… gunshots? Were they being shot at? Was Dasha shooting back? It didn’t matter. Between that and the recent realization of what was actually going on, he couldn’t focus on the words on his screen. In the background he could hear the other two talking, Dasha telling him where to go, Burger sounded thrilled, excited, as if he’d always dreamed of running away from the police in his van, but everything was muffled, and covered by the sound of the siren. Vang0 was supposed to participate in the excitement, but the adrenaline from minutes earlier had dissipated almost immediately.

“Vang0, can you intercept the police radio and tell us what they say?” Dasha’s voice made him zone back in, he hadn’t even realized he had zoned out.

“Uh, yeah, sure, gimme a sec.” It wasn’t his first time intercepting a police radio, sometimes he would just chill and listen to it with Burger while they drove around the city in their free time, just to see what they were up to. Once in, he could hear the voices of the various officers talking, and tried deciphering their various numbered codes.

“Anything interesting?” Dasha quickly said before looking out of the window and shooting a couple of bullets behind the van.

Vang0 flinched when he heard gunshots coming from behind, “these pigs are so incompetent, just avoid Haywood, get to Pacifica and go south, it’s easier to hide there. They put one of those spike strips right at the entrance of Canary street, but you can avoid it by turning left at the next one.”

As Burger followed Vang0’s instructions, slowly the sound of the sirens started fading out and the sun was finally setting. In a matter of minutes they passed by the “You’re leaving Night City” sign, and the three could finally breathe again.

After a long silence, Vang0 asked, “where are we going now?”

“We could keep going south, cross the border with Southern California and go to Los Angeles, maybe from there we go east.” Dasha proposed.

“We’d have to go through the desert, I think it’s better to stay on the west coast, I say San Francisco” Burger replied.

“The longer we stay here in Northern California, the easier it will be for them to eventually find us.”

“South Cali is dangerous, you know about the nuclear accident.”

“That was between Bakersfield and Stateline, if we just go to LA we should be fine, Los Angeles is basically sealed from the rest of the state.”

“Vang0, wha’ d’ya think? North or South?”

Dasha turned on her seat to look at Vang0, who only then realised that she was back to her usual passenger seat. He looked back at her, “I guess crossing the border would be better, let’s go to Los Angeles and then decide what to do.”

“And what are we gonna tell ‘em when they ask us for an ID? The border patrol definitely knows that there’s a group of…” Burger hesitated, but that was the only word he could think of, so he said it anyway, “...criminals, who’s trying to run away”

“They never check your ID, don’t worry, you have no idea how many times I just walked in there and they barely even asked my name, plus it’s dark, so maybe that could be an advantage for us.” Dasha assured them.

“It’s a free state, aren’t they supposed to regulate who goes in and who gets out?” Vang0 asked innocently.

“They don’t care, at least not in Cali, and once out CN, nobody will care about who we are.”

A few moments of silence followed that conversation, until Dasha looked at her agent and declared: “No signal.” Vang0 took the agent off his wrist and set it aside on the empty seat next to him.

Burger gave a quick glance at Vang0 from the mirror, and it didn’t take him long to notice that his friend was not as chill as him and Dasha were, he wanted to talk to him, comfort him, but he thought it would be better to leave him alone, and mourn the loss of the most important thing in his life. With his eyes on the road, he focused towards getting them all to Los Angeles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is @cyberdumb !


	3. Manhattan Gamestop, G-na Sine and...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Personal ID? What's that?

There were not many cars on the highway, and the sun had almost completely set down by the time they approached the border between Northern California and Southern California. The border patrol saw them coming and signed at them to stop, for the usual inspection, all three of them quietly hoping to not get recognized.

“What if they recognize us?” Vang0 asked, whispering, before they reached the station.

“In that case, we’re fucked” Dasha replied.

“Told you we should’ve gone North.” Burger quickly said, before turning to the officer once he stopped the van. He tried the friendly approach, hoping to distract them with his kindness, “hey, how’s it going? Stopped any criminals lately?”

Dasha wished she could melt into the seat so she wouldn’t have to listen to that conversation.

The elderly agent didn’t respond to that, instead they turned on their flashlight and pointed it at Burger’s face, “what’re your names?”

“Uh. I’m B- Manhattan Gamestop,” that'll do it.

“Manhattan Gamestop? That’s your name?”

“Yup. Manhattan Gamestop, that’s me.”

“Alright,” a beat, “anything to declare, Mr. Gamestop?”

He turned to Dasha, who decided to talk in his stead, “nothing to declare, officer.”

The agent moved the flashlight from Burger to Dasha, “And you are?”

“G-na Sine, and this here is our associate, uh-” she turned to Vang0 who just shrugged and shook his head, “the… the Italian Stallion.” Vang0 thought that Dasha could’ve come up with something better than that.

The agent let out a sigh, probably out of tiredness, “well, welcome to Southern California” and let them through.

Burger turned to Dasha as if to say “how was this so easy?” and she replied with an “told you”.

They drove through, and the light of the moon came into through the windows as it gently hit their faces, and it felt much like a caress. It was a type of light that they hadn’t seen in a while. Sure, they were used to natural sunlight, they were exposed to it every day. But the sun is hot, it’s angry and it’s aggressive. The moonlight, that’s something you don’t get in Night City. With all the neon signs and artificial lights that lit up the night life of the city, there was no space for the moon.

Burger recognized the peacefulness of the area as familiar, and a warm sensation formed in his chest as it reminded him of his life in the farming commune he had been forced to leave when he was younger.

Dasha looked out, and she saw the stars for the first time in years, it had been a long time since she had traveled outside of Night City. She had almost forgotten that they existed, and that night they were particularly bright.

“Hey, what are those?” Vang0’s voice broke the silence inside of the van.

Burger tilted his head, “those what?”

“Those… white dots?” he pointed at the dark sky, which he had never seen so clear.

“You mean… the stars in the sky?” Dasha asked, with a hint of confusion in her tone.

“ _ Those _ are stars?” his voice sounded almost disappointed, “thought they were bigger.”

“Have you… have you never seen stars, Vang0?”

“Not that I remember, no.”

“Well, there you have them,” Dasha looked down, and finally a hint of hunger hit her stomach, along with a sudden tiredness, “how long do we need to drive?”

“About 3 hours,” Burger responded without even looking at the van’s GPS, “maybe it’s better if we stop somewhere and rest, for now”

Vang0 was still observing the stars, “yeah, that seems like a good idea. You guys have anything to eat?”

“I grabbed these saltines earlier, they’re not great, but they’re edible, I guess” Dasha grabbed the duffle bag from under her seat and pulled out a pack of saltines, waving it over her head so that Vang0 could see it.

“Do you actually eat those?”

“Nope, I bought them and then I never even opened the box,”

“Well, they’re better than nothing,” Vang0 grabbed the box, opened it carefully and grabbed one of the packs of crackers wrapped in clear plastic. He handed the box back to Dasha and started eating his snack.

“We stoppin’ at the next gas station?” Burger asked, while his right hand grabbed one of the saltines from the pack in Dasha’s hands and ate it, “I don’t think we have enough money for a motel”

She shook her head, “We don’t, let’s sleep in the van for tonight.”

“Gas station it is, then”

Upon seeing a sign indicating an exit to a gas station, faintly illuminated by the lights at the side of the road, Burger turned right and left the highway, parking the van in one of the dedicated spots, in a way that the van couldn’t be seen from the road, and turned off the engine.

Dasha tilted her head while investigating the small, single-story building next to which they had parked. It was visibly old, it must’ve been built in the late 80’s. A large glass door was the only entrance, and the lights on the inside were all turned off. It didn’t seem abandoned, it was probably just closed because of the late hour.

They concluded that in the morning they would go in and buy some essentials, especially food, and they would’ve filled up the tank before leaving to go to Los Angeles. Vang0 laid down over the back seats and stared at the hood of the vehicle. It wasn’t the first time, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last time that he’d sleep in there.

“Vang0, have you actually never seen the stars before?” Dasha asked, eyes looking out of the windshield.

Vang0 didn’t expect her to be the one to ask that question, it felt more like something Burger would ask. “Probably I have, but I just can’t remember it. I haven’t left Night City at all after I woke up, and with all those neon lights at night you can’t see anything in the sky. I never thought that there would be so many.”

“And what do you think about them?” Burger’s gentle voice asked.

“About the stars?” What a complicated question. What is there to think about the stars? They’re up there, minding their business. Vang0 knew what the stars were, what they were made of. He knew that there were different types, and that some of them formed constellations, he even knew a little about astrology. But what does  _ he  _ think about the stars? “I like them. They’re cool.”

“They are pretty cool,” Dasha added, with a smile on her face.

Besides the stars in the sky, there was still a lot of stuff that Vang0 hadn’t seen, or couldn’t remember seeing. Most important of all, grass. He had never seen a natural grass field, with wildflowers to run through.

He glanced at his agent, the top left corner read “no signal”, and he could feel his heart sinking into his chest. He turned off the device, took it off, and let it slip out of his hand and onto the van floor, as he let his arm slouch outside of the seat and dangle carelessly. He closed his eyes and gently scratched the underseat, waiting to fall asleep.

The sudden sunlight painfully hit Dasha’s eyes, a groan immediately left her mouth as she covered her face with both of her hands. At her left Burger was still sort of sleeping, but she could tell that the orange-ish light was bothering him too. Behind herself she heard Vang0 humming, and when she turned back to check if he was awake she saw him with his entire right arm draped over his eyes, completely asleep.

Outside of the van, everything was tinted with some hue of red, now that the sun had risen. The air itself was red, as if they’d just landed on Mars. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on her surroundings.

“What time is it?” she heard Burger ask while in the middle of a yawn.

She looked down at her agent, “6:30,”

“Gah- This is why I hate summer,” he stated while stretching his arms and legs within the limited space of his seat.

Dasha quietly agreed, “should we wake him up?” she whispered, while pointing towards Vang0 behind her with her thumb.

He shook his head and then threw it back, his neck sore after sleeping uncomfortably for so many hours, “no, let him sleep, between the three of us, he’s definitely the one who’s having the least fun.” he whispered back, Dasha didn’t say anything to that. “I mean, his entire life was basically just that forum, and now he doesn’t have it, what is he supposed to do, ya’ know?”

She nodded again, “he was so excited to leave Night City, though.”

“Probably it was just… his subconscious, trying to tell him that it would be a good idea to change it up a bit, try new stuff, I don’t know. Probably he just didn’t think it through.” As always, Burger noticed everything that was up with Vang0, and cared for him more than anybody else.

“Yeah, maybe. I hope he’s okay, though.” A beat. “The store over there still hasn’t opened.”

“Probably opens at 8. Should I go check?”

“Nah, I’ll go. Gotta wake up these bad bitches over here,” Dasha said while slapping her knees twice.

Burger quietly laughed at her wording, “alright Dash, I’ll wait in the van then.”

Dasha opened the door, the unexpectedly cold morning air felt as if someone had slapped her face. She stepped out slowly and closed the door behind herself. Her legs felt numb at first, and she thought she was going to fall, but as she started walking towards the entrance of the building, she could feel her legs regaining sensitivity, and becoming usable again.

Besides the van, and the occasional car passing by on the highway, she was completely alone. She stretched her arms and neck, now fully awake. She read the sign at the door and then walked back towards the van, wrapping herself up in her green bomber jacket.

“It says 7 to 9,” she whispered as Burger lowered the passenger window to hear her.

“Only 10 minutes then,” he replied after checking his agent.

“Only 10 minutes to what?” Vang0’s voice suddenly broke the semi-silence.

“Til the store opens,” Dasha answered, sticking her head into the van through the window so that Vang0 could hear her better.

“Good morning, Vang0!” Burger Chainz exclaimed, turning around to see Vang0 rubbing his eyes and slowly sitting up.

“Uh? Oh, yeah, g’morning,” he looked around for a second, trying to remember what had happened the day before, until he looked out of the window, “am I hallucinating or is the air… red?”

Burger and Dasha looked at each other, how many more things that they gave for granted did Vang0 not know?

“You can’t see it in Night City because of the buildings, and because we have air purifiers, but yeah, the air is red.” Dasha hoped to dismiss the conversation that quickly, “you know, fourth Corporation War, nuclear weapons, toxic radiation and all that crap.”

“Oh, uh, that sounds bad.”

“It’s fine to breathe though, it’s just the color.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better about it.”

“You’ll get used to it, don’t worry, Vang0” Burger reassured him with his most comforting smile. Vang0 immediately felt better.

Burger opened the door and slowly stepped out, Vang0 did the same and stretched his limbs. “So, just to reiterate, as soon as it opens Vang0 and I are running inside, while Burger, you’ll fill up the tank,” Dasha suggested, she leaned against the front of the van as she put on her sunglasses, the partially red frame matched the red lipstick that she would usually be wearing, and looked up at the sky.

“Sure.” Burger leaned too, at her left, and checked the time on his agent.

“Alright,” Vang0 leaned on the other side, and put on his own shield-shaped cyclops sunglasses, “besides food - by the way, I’m starving - what do we need?”

“Well, water…”

“I don’t think they would sell well water at a gas station, Dasha,” Burger stated.

“Huh… what?”

“Why would you buy well water anyway? Just get mineral water”

“I said “well comma water””

“Oh.”

“It’s alright”

“I thought you said “well water.””

“Okay,” she breathed in, the air temperature was slowly becoming warmer and more bearable, “we need bottled water, definitely deodorant and soap, even some clothes, maybe, if they have any. It’s better to buy the essentials here, since they’re cheap, rather than in Los Angeles, where even just breathing costs as much as an eye,”

“Sunscreen,”

“Do you actually need sunscreen, Vang0?”

“Look, I have sensitive skin,”

“Sunscreen it is, then. Anything else?”

Burger turned his head towards her, “yeah, can you guys ask-”

“I’m not asking any employee if they actually sell “well water”, Burger.” Dasha looked at the time on her agent, 7:03. She then looked up and she noticed a car parked on the other side of the lot, the lights inside of the building were on and the door was open. She nudged Vang0, “let’s go in. Burger, see you in 10.”

Burger nodded and walked back to the driver’s seat, at the same time the other two moved towards the entrance and walked in, taking off their sunglasses and setting them aside.

They were the only people inside, besides the clearly sleep deprived teenage cashier standing behind the counter, understandably so. After grabbing anything they needed to grab as quickly as possible, they walked up to the counter. The teenager behind it was watching the news on a small, decades old, tv screen. It looked like it came out straight from 2020.

“Hey, hi, could we get a bag, please?” Dasha asked as she placed all of their items on the counter.

“Huh-uh,” was all the employee said before starting to slowly scan all of the items, one by one. Vang0 and Dasha impatiently stared at her painfully slow hands, following each movement.

Vang0 was already tired of having to wait, “could you… could you be a little faster?”

The cashier looked up at him and paused for a second, and without saying anything started scanning the items again just as slowly as before. Once done, she announced their total while handing them the bag.

As Dasha handed her the money, she heard the words “Night City”, “Harp Co.” and “robbery” coming from the old tv that was mounted on the wall behind the counter. Just when she looked up, the cashier and Vang0 did the same, and right after hearing the words “the police are still looking for the suspects, who seem to have run away to Southern California” her face appeared on screen, along with Vang0’s and Burger’s.

The cashier looked back down at them, with Dasha’s money still in her hands, but now her eyes were wide open. For a moment it felt like they were frozen in time, staring at each other with shock on their faces.

Until Dasha grabbed Vang0 by the arm, the bag in her other hand, and started running towards the exit, dragging him with her.

“Keep the change!” Vang0 exclaimed just as the employee saw him disappearing through the other side of the door.

Dasha quickly located the van again, now parked closer to the exit, Burger standing nearby, waiting for the two of them. She sprinted towards him. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. FUCK.”

“You don’t think she recognized us, right?”

“I think she figured it out, Vang0.”

“Is she gonna call the police?”

“I don’t know. Burger!” as she shouted that, he turned to face her and waved at her in the distance. “Start the van! Start the van, we need to go.”

He immediately understood and stepped in, doing what he had been told to do. Dasha and Vang0 jumped in too as soon as they reached the van.

“What happened?” Burger innocently asked.

Vang0 was panting, but he managed to let out a few words, “the news… we’re on the news.”

“Cool!”

Dasha shook her head, “very much not cool. We’re suspects. We need to go. Now.”

“Oh, that’s not good” Burger left the parking spot and drove the van back into the highway, luckily for them there was not much traffic around, “did anyone recognize you?”

“The cashier, definitely.”

“Dasha, if they showed our faces on the news, you think they’re gonna be looking for us in LA?” Vang0 asked, while rummaging through his lime green duffle bag.

“Probably… What are you looking for?”

“I have an idea. Burger, how long til Los Angeles?”

Burger checked the GPS, “two hours and a half.”

“Good, that’s enough time,” he was still rummaging through the bag.

Dasha was getting impatient, he looked like he had had an idea, and it seemed like a good one. “Enough time to do what, Vang0?”

He then looked up at her and raised both of his hands, he was holding a transparent plastic bag filled with what looked like tubes of various dimensions and colors in his right hand, while his left hand was holding several flat and rectangular colorful boxes. Makeup, Vang0 had pulled out makeup from his bag.

That was the last thing Dasha would’ve expected, “where did you have all that?”

“I… I hoard makeup.”

“You never wear it!”

“I just don’t wear it outside!”

“Why did you pull out that much makeup anyway?”

“When we were at M House, I looked at PlasticFrekles’ desk, and I noticed that most of the makeup she uses is stuff that I already have. And, the list with the stolen makeup? I’ve got a few of that too, I just didn’t know what it was for.” Vang0 looked thrilled.

“So?”

“What if we use makeup to change our features, but in a way that still looks realistic and deceives anyone who may be looking for us? That way we can hide in plain sight in Los Angeles until we find a better plan.”

“That’s a really good plan!” Burger exclaimed, listening in on the conversation while trying to keep the van steady as he drove well above the speed limit.

“It’s a great plan, but who would do all that? I know I’m good with makeup, but not that good.” Dasha said.

“Dasha,” Vang0 paused briefly, looking smugly at her from his backseat, “I’ve watched every single video that M House ever put out. I’ve followed along every single tutorial. I’ve been preparing for this exact moment my entire fucking life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is @cyberdumb (just changed it lol)


	4. The plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is more like a transitory chapter, don't expect much from this also i've reread the chapter multiple times but there could potentially be some mistakes)

The problem with Vang0 Bang0 is that everyone, including himself, underestimates him. Everyone sees him as a loser who wastes time streaming for a handful of people, as someone who couldn’t be an active participant in a conversation to save his life, as someone who always says the wrong thing. The moderator of a stupid forum.

The problem with Vang0 Bang0 is that nobody, including himself, understands that he’s so much more than that.

“So,” Vang0 started, pulling out a small plastic box from his bag, “you know Tiberius and Luke, right?” As he said that, he opened the box. Inside it was filled with a soft peach tinted paste, “they have this video about how to make prosthetics with flour and water, I literally made this two days ago just to see how it worked.”

Dasha couldn’t believe her eyes.

“And you’re gonna use that to make us look completely different?” she asked curiously.

“Just slightly different enough that people can’t recognize us from our face, then I’m gonna use Vanta Black so we can hide from facial recognition devices”

“There are so many things we could still be recognized from, though, like what about our hair?” Dasha was still doubtful that the plan would be a complete success.

“I have my wax hair dyes in the bag, if you wanna try it, Dasha.”

She looked at Vang0, then Burger, finally back to Vang0. “What about Burger’s jaw? And his cybernetic eye? That’s very recognizable”

“I’ll cover my mouth with one of those face masks, it’s not rare to see people with face masks, especially in Los Angeles, and for the eye we’ll figure it out. I could just wear sunglasses.” Burger suggested, completely on board with Vang0’s idea at this point.

“But do we have to do it while the van is moving? Can’t we stop?”

“Sure, we’ll stop, that way it’ll be so much easier for anyone to see us and call the police.” Dasha visibly disliked the fact that Vang0 had used sarcasm on her, but he was right again. “Don’t worry, I’ve done this plenty of times, the van moving won’t be a problem."

“I don’t know.”

“Please Dasha, i need you to trust me.” Vang0 desperately tried to convince her.

The problem with Dasha is that she doesn’t trust anyone but herself. She would love to just instinctively trust people on a whim, but she couldn’t do it, not anymore. Not after what had happened to her before meeting Vang0 and Burger, she had been forced to unlearn how to trust people.

The problem with Dasha is that she had to make a decision..

She breathed in and then exhaled slowly, considering the plan. After a long silence she closed her eyes and nodded, “okay, I trust you Vang0.” He sighed in relief. “Maybe the plan isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing.”

Vang0 started with Dasha, who agreed upon letting him use his wax hair dye on her hair, which he bought after he saw C4A using it for a video. He dyed her hair a bright green, and used the homemade prosthetic paste and some makeup to alter her features. He altered her nose and cheekbones very subtly, added contouring and finished it off with an anti-facial recognition look. Once he was done with her, she looked like a completely different person.

In the meantime, they had also developed a decent plan on how to move around LA, and how to leave Southern California for good. First thing, they would park the van outside of the city and disguise it with Burger’s spray paint (“Yeah I have some cans in the trunk, I did a favor to this guy, and to thank me he just gave me some of his extra cans”) and they’d cover up the plate number.

Next, they’d stay in LA for a day, still sleeping in the van instead of an hotel, so they would have as little interactions as possible with other people. They’d lay low, hoping that the situation would be more calm, and the next day they’d leave Southern California for Arizona, where there was no possible way for Harp Co. to find them.

They still decided to go to Los Angeles, despite ending up one the news, since it would be more convenient for them to hide in the crowded city, than trying to cross the border when the news that they were running away had just come out.

Dasha went back to her usual passenger seat, and when Burger turned to look at her, he almost didn’t recognize her. “Woah, Vang0 you’re really good at this stuff.”

Vang0 was happy to be in the backseat, that way Burger couldn’t see him smiling softly, flustered by the compliment.

“I mean, you’re  _ really  _ good, I can’t recognize you at all, Dash.”

Dasha grabbed Vang0’s mirror and looked at herself. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from the image on the mirror, all she could see was a distorted version of herself that looked like it just came out of a parallel dimension. “Vang0, this is great.”

“Uh… Thanks guys.”

They pulled over, so that Burger could go in the back to let Vang0 do his job, while Dasha, who hated driving wholeheartedly, but was willing to make a sacrifice for this time, would be driving for them.

“Dasha, do you promise to be extremely careful with Keanu?” Burger asked her as he stepped in the backseat.

“Don’t call the van “Keanu” ever again.”

And like that, she started driving. She was more insecure than Burger, since she hadn’t driven any vehicle in a long time, so it took a minute for her to drive at any speed above 20 mph, but eventually she got the gist of it and pressed down the gas pedal with certainty.

Burger sat down next to Vang0, who was holding two small tin boxes in his hands, “blue or black dye?”

“Uh, black?”

“Oh, that’ll suit you!” Vang0 said excitedly, setting aside one of the boxes. He started dying Burger’s hair, only interrupted by Dasha occasionally telling off the other drivers on the road for being too slow or too fast.

Once done dying his hair, Burger raised his upper lip in a smile, “how do I look?” he asked Vang0.

Vang0 smiled back at him, “you look gre-” he started to say, before being interrupted by the van suddenly hitting a bump and making him jump up and fall over Burger, who caught him with his hands and kindly helped him up.

“Fuck, sorry guys” they hear coming from the front.

“It’s okay, don’t worry. You okay, Vang0?”

Vang0 could feel his cheeks blushing, it was impossible that Burger hadn’t noticed that he was flustered all of the sudden, so he was grateful that he didn’t say anything. “Yeah, I’m- I’m okay.” he said while lowering his gaze.

“So now I’ll just cover the jaw with one of those face masks, and I should be fine?”

“Mh-mh” Vang0 agreed, “I don’t think you need any of that stuff,” he said pointing at the small plastic box of the peach tinted paste that he used on Dasha, “and you don’t even need anti-face recognition makeup ‘cause the face mask is enough, so I guess you’re done.” Vang0 shrugged and tucked his hair behind his ear.

“That means I can pull over now?” Dasha asked, exasperatedly.

After pulling over and switching seats once again for a second time, they were back to their usual seating. Burger driving, Dasha on the passenger seat, and Vang0 in the back, as always. Vang0 grabbed his mirror and looked at himself, trying to figure out what to do. He asked Burger to drive slower than before, to give him more time before they would reach LA.

“Do you guys have scissors?” Vang0 asked.

Burger quickly looked at Dasha, then said “there’s probably a pair in the back.”

Burger and Dasha heard the sound of the trunk lever being pulled, the middle backseat folding onto itself and Vang0 shuffling to get through it, he was probably bringing his make up in the back, but they didn’t hear him come back.

What they heard instead was the sound of scissors, followed later by the sound of a battery powered electric razor, the one that Burger used to shave when what was left of his facial hair grew too long.

Dasha looked at Burger, her lips, covered by a pink lipstick, partially open in shock, “is he actually…?”

In the meantime, they could see the city getting closer, with its tall buildings visible from a distance. Burger saw a sign indicating the exit towards Los Angeles, and took it.

Los Angeles hadn’t been just a city ever since Northern California gained independence from the south, and had slowly become a Metroplex, bigger than any other metropolitan area in the entire US. Every town or small city around it had been inglobated into its seemingly never ending limits.

As soon as they were outside of the highway, Burger pulled over, and they could see the city limit, where there were mostly houses. Even though they were not far away from it, around them the area was completely deserted, as if there was an invisible barrier separating the city itself from the surrounding area.

“Hurry up, Vang0,” Burger said before stepping off, followed by Dasha, and both of them walked to the back of the van. As soon as he opened the doors he saw… Vang0? Sat down between Burger’s personal stuff, with his agent’s flashlight turned on, his mirror in front of him, fixing his makeup.

Except that this guy looked nothing like Vang0.

For starters, his bleached hair was short now, as in  _ really  _ short, his bangs had disappeared and he had shaved his moustache. In addition to this, he had accentuated his jawline and filled the small gap in his nose bridge, thanks to the prosthetics and to contouring. He had also taken the chance to put on a more traditional, but sparkly makeup look. Burger thought that the blue and silver eyeshadow really suited his eyes.

Dasha and Burger stood there, speechless, not recognizing the man in front of them, and yet knowing perfectly who he was.

Burger broke the silence, “Vang0, you look-”

Vang0 interrupted him “different? No need to make that face, Dasha looks different too.”

“Yeah but… you look more different than her. You’re-”

“Did you seriously cut your hair in the back of Burger’s van? Where are we going to throw it away? You could’ve just dyed it.”

“You’re right, but I feel like I needed to switch it up a bit. Oh, and, Burger,” Vang0 grabbed a piece of fabric and tossed it to Burger, who caught it, “I found that old thing here in the back, you can use that.”

Burger looked at it, it was a black cotton face mask that he had used to stay safe when the bioplague hit a farming commune close to his own. “Oh, thank you,” he said before putting it on.

“No prob. And these,” Vang0, still sat down inside the van, grabbed a cardboard box, it was not heavy, but it was still big enough that he struggled a little to push it towards the other two, “are the spray paint cans Burger was talking about before.”

Dasha grabbed the box, “then let’s get to work before people see us.”

The problem with Burger is that he can’t help but notice, and give importance to, every single thing that changes within the people he cares about, whether subtle or evident. And he couldn’t help but notice how much more confident Vang0 seemed. It was good, obviously, confidence is great, but it was also weird. Had Vang0 seriously gotten so much more confident just because of… that?

The problem with Burger is that he wants everyone he cares about to be happy.

“Yellow, blue, pink and a ton of black, not many colors.” Vang0 pointed out.

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, we just have to make it look like a different van.” Dasha replied.

Burger looked at both of them and shrugged, “you guys figure it out. I’ll cover the plates in the meantime.”

They ended up deciding on painting the whole van black. Burger quietly hoped that it could be washed away in some way. Or he could just paint over it once it was over.

Dasha sighed while walking towards the passenger door, “time to hide inside Los Angeles, hopefully this plan works.”

“It has to work. And if it doesn’t… we’ll figure it out.” Burger tried comforting her, but he didn’t know what to expect either, he was just as worried as anyone would expect him to be.

“It’s gonna work,” Vang0 looked at both of them, nodding, trying to convince himself too that the plan would work somehow, “let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my tumblr is @cyberdumb !


	5. Los Angeles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's for vang0chainz !
> 
> also please DO read the end notes on this chapter

At about noon they crossed the city border, and simultaneously the already cloudy weather started getting visibly worse. In the outskirts of the city it all seemed somewhat normal, and although it was not sunny and heavenly, near the northern coast the weather looked fine. However, from the van, they could see that only a bit more to the south, the atmosphere was visibly polluted and smog-drenched. Well, actually, they couldn’t really see much past about half a mile into the city, because of the air pollution.

In addition to this, the air was warm, and ahead of them, on the side of the road, surrounded by a few houses, Vang0 noticed a small, not very colorful, cubical booth, with a vendor standing inside it. It was not far, so he was able to see what was written on the sign.

“Gas masks, clean oxygen” he read out loud, “and anti-acid rain gear?”

He hadn’t even finished reading when Dasha gasped all of the sudden. “Shit! Burger, stop the van! Burger stop the van,” and Burger, startled, followed her instructions by once again pulling over by the side of the road, holding back a tired “what now?” as he didn’t want to sound annoyed by her. “I forgot about the gas masks!”

Burger turned his head to the right and looked at Dasha, perplexed “Gas masks?”

“Yes, the gas masks- Jesus Christ, wait in here.” she jumped off the van before either of the two could say anything and ran towards the booth.

Burger looked back at Vang0 hoping that he would know what was going on. Vang0 looked back at him, shaking his head slightly, just as lost.

They saw Dasha talk with the vendor and grab a large bag before paying, then running back to the van.

“We’re already running low on money, Dash.” Vang0 pointed out.

“I know, but we need gas masks, for safety.” Dasha pulled out from the bag three gas masks and handed one to each of them. “You don’t need to put them on now, but if it starts raining the air downtown becomes impossible to breathe, a friend of mine told me. And they weren’t even that expensive,” she reassured Burger. “What was really expensive though, was this,” as she spoke those words, she pulled out a pair of boots and a hooded jacket.

“Dasha, it’s summer, what do we need those for?”

“They’re acid proof, acid rain is common here. Trust me, spending money on this will be worth it. We’ll have to find some way to share them.”

“We’re only staying for one day.”

“And you wouldn’t want it to be your last.”

Burger sighed, “alright. So can we go now?”

Dasha nodded with confidence. “Let’s also find some place that makes fake IDs, this way when we leave if we get asked to show ID we’ll have something. Yes, we have to spend more money,” she added the last part as soon as she saw Burger opening his mouth to protest in the corner of her eye, “It’ll be worth it, and we’ll find a way to get money to survive.”

“Great, can’t wait to die,” Vang0 commented sarcastically, then laid back into his seat and checked his agent. He connected to the Los Angeles Metroplex Network, he didn’t need a password since he knew how to bypass it.

“Okay, c’mon, we’re not gonna die”

“Exactly,” Dasha started, while Burger had once again started driving, directed south, “let's just find a place where we can blend in with the people, where the police won’t suspect us, then-” as Dasha said that, they passed by a group of people gathered on the sidewalk, most of which, maybe four of them, were clearly cops. Dasha inspected them for a split second, before she made eye contact with one of them, and immediately went back to looking at the road.

The cops were violently beating a defenseless man, who was probably even homeless by the state of his clothes, and the few people around them were watching the scene from a certain distance. The dark blood stained the cement as the cops kept hitting this man senseless.

They couldn’t do anything.

“Keep driving calmly, don’t accelerate, pretend you didn’t see it” she whispered to Burger, who had also seen the scene.

“This was a terrible idea, they’re definitely gonna do that to us,” Vang0 said, he wanted to seem sarcastic this time too, but his shaky and anxious voice betrayed him.

“We’re gonna be fine,” Burger wanted to be reassuring. He really did. But he was absolutely terrified.

“So, uh…” Dasha turned to Burger, trying to go back to what she was saying before, “recap: we need to blend in, make fake IDs, tomorrow morning we’re leaving before sunrise and we’re heading towards Arizona, and we won’t have to worry anymore.”

The other two silently agreed. The air outside was getting warmer, dirtier and the red tint of the atmosphere was slowly transitioning into orange. The neighborhood they were driving through at that point was very clearly on the poorer side, the buildings were old and the few people on the streets didn’t look like they were living their best life.

As they kept driving south, they noticed they were now driving through a quite lively neighborhood populated primarily by the middle class of the city. The houses slowly started to look newer, the road seemed to have been renewed recently, but the visibly wealthier people didn’t look happier. The air was still polluted, the atmosphere still orange and the grey clouds covered almost the entire sky.

The grey of the clouds and the orange of the air mixed to create a dark orange color, neither brown nor red, but something weirdly in the middle.

They stopped at a semi-empty parking lot behind what had probably been a 7/11 a few decades prior, before being renovated into a mall of small size.

Vang0 grabbed the bag from the gas station and pulled out a small yellow plastic packet. The label read “Kibble!” in big blue and white letters, followed by a smaller “You can’t live without it” right under it, the colorful palette making the catchphrase seem less ominous than it sounded.

He opened the packet and grabbed a handful of the pellet shaped food, then proceeded to toss it into his mouth.

Burger heard him eating, turned to Dasha and pulled down his mask, “d’you guys get any Scop?”

“There weren't many flavors, but we grabbed some,” she reached out to grab the bag and set it on her lap, then started pulling some small, rectangular, bar-shaped packets of various colors, predominantly beige, a few were either red or blue. “It was mostly soy, but we also found some chicken Scop and some cod Scop.”

Burger made a disgusted sound, “cod Scop is gross, I’ll take chicken.”

She passed him one of the red bars, while she took a beige soy bar for herself. When they both opened their respective packets, they revealed solid, monochromatic brown-ish bars. Burger took a bite out of his and it tasted exactly like chicken. Not his favorite flavor, but still better than nothing.

Dasha, on the other hand, loved soy Scop, she wished she could eat ten bars a day. She had tried to do that one day, but it didn’t end well for her stomach, so she resorted to simply eating one a day and enjoying it thoroughly.

“Vang0, why don’t you eat Scop? It tastes infinitely better than that stuff,” she turned around, offering Vang0 a beige bar.

“Don’t you dare disrespect Kibble like that,” Vang0 downed another handful of his own food.

“Keep your dog food, then.” Dasha turned back and put the packet back in the bag, “if we stay here all day we’ll seem extremely suspicious,” she pointed out before taking another bite out of her Scop bar.

“Maybe-” Burger started with his mouth full of Scop, “maybe we can go there later,” he gestured towards the mall in front of them.

Vang0 nervously bit the inside of his lower lip at the thought of being in the middle of a crowd, “I don’t know, there could be so many people,”

After that, nobody added anything, they finished their “lunch” and sat in silence for several minutes. Vang0 checked his agent and tried logging onto Jumptrash.net, but, as he had expected, the screen went blank, reading “page not found”. He sighed and threw his head back.

Burger watched as people walked in and out of the mall, and slowly put his mask back up. The sky was still mostly covered by grey-ish clouds, he wondered how long it would take for it to start raining.

Unexpectedly, he saw Dasha grabbing the gas mask from under her seat, and the acid-proof hooded jacket and the boots.

“What are you doing?”

She opened the door and stepped out, “I’m going out for a walk, you two stay here,” the smell of methane slowly started slipping into the van.

Vang0 quickly got up and stuck his head out in between the two front seats, “where are you going?”

“I don’t know, downtown? Maybe I’ll go looking for a place that makes fake IDs so we can go there later.”

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with?” Burger asked, as Dasha took off her bomber jacket and boots and put on the acid-proof clothing, placing the clothes she just took off on her seat.

“We only have one of these so,”

“C’mon Dash,”

“It’s just a walk, I’ll be back soon.”

“Just... be careful. You know this place is much more dangerous than Night City.”

“You two be careful too, don’t get into any trouble and stay here,” she ended the conversation.

Vang0 went back to his seat as Dasha closed the door. He followed her with his eyes as she first opened the back door, grabbed her backpack, put her mask in it and closed the door. She started walking away, directed south, clearly intending to go where the actual life of the city was, in the city centre.

The smell of methane was still lingering inside of the van, when Vang0 slipped through the two front seats and, after moving Dasha's bomber jacket and boots in the back of the van and sat down next to Burger, “do you believe her?”

“What?”

“About the fact that she’s just taking a walk.”

Burger was surprised by Vang0’s doubts and pulled down his mask again, “I mean, what else would she be doing?”

“I don’t know, maybe she’s going to a specific place but she doesn’t want us to know that,”

“Even if it was like that,” Burger looked at Vang0, whose eyes were already fixed on him, “that’s her business.”

Vang0 looked away for a moment and observed the people outside the mall, “I know, but…”

“Vang0,” Burger called him, with his comforting voice, the same voice he uses with people he knows have been hurt, “I can see that this situation is really getting to you, you’re acting weird, and it was even weirder when you walked out with… that,” Burger gestured towards his face, Vang0 understood that he meant his haircut, “you can just talk to me about it, you know?”

He could sense Burger’s eyes still on himself, he felt as if he was about to burn a hole through his skull with his gaze, despite that, he didn’t look away from the people walking out of the mall. He quickly passed his tongue between his lips and then sucked them in, not saying anything.

Burger understood the message, “okay, if you don’t wanna talk now, that’s fine. But you’ll have to say something about it eventually. You can always talk with me, you know that.”

Vang0 nodded, agreeing with him. He closed his eyes and threw his head back slightly, slowly breathing in and out, Burger turned his attention to the steering wheel, and looked down at the old radio that he had gotten converted into a music player.

“Wanna listen to some music?”

Vang0 opened his eyes and turned to Burger, who was smiling at him. The view made his heart skip a beat, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. “Depends, what d’you wanna listen to?”

“Anything, we can put on your playlist too, if you want”.

Vang0 looked at the screen and among the other playlists and albums saved, he recognized the cover art of the playlist he had created the first time he had slept in that van, almost two years before, “you still have my playlist saved here?”

“Sure, I keep everything saved,” Burger selected the playlist, and played it on shuffle. The first song started playing, introduced by an electronic melody, a synth, followed by a soft bass and an electric guitar playing some riff, until the beats started giving the song a rhythm.

_ Tell her when it rains, I don’t feel it. _

_ Tell her I’m to blame, didn’t see it. _

Every muscle relaxed in Vang0’s body, he hadn’t even realized he had been tensing the entire time. He let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes again, listening to the song in silence and nodding along to the rhythm.

Burger looked at him, feeling satisfied with himself that he had found a way to help his friend. He considered it a success, even if he hadn’t managed to make Vang0 talk about his issues, he knew he had to let him take his time, and process the situation at his own pace.

He loved this feeling, the feeling of having helped someone, especially when it came to Vang0, who sometimes was difficult to help, as Burger had noticed that he always did the most to try and avoid his emotions.

It was okay. Everyone has their own pace, Burger was willing to wait for Vang0, he just wanted to see him happy and at peace, even if it would take him years to accomplish such a task.

_ But in my life, I never meant to cause no harm. _

_ Never hurt nobody, just wanna take this chance to fly. _

As the song faded out, and the following one started with a piano, playing a gentle and slow melody.  _ She packed my bags last night pre-flight. Zero hour nine AM… _

Vang0 opened his eyes once again and looked up at the sky.

“You think they sell slushies in there?” Vang0 asked, talking about the mall.

Burger raised both of his eyebrows “I don’t know, wanna go see?”

Vang0 threw a quick look at Burger, then back to the mall, he bit his tongue between his teeth. “Yeah, why not?”

Burger pulled his mask up and stepped out. Vang0 took both of their gas masks and put them in his backpack, then stepped out too and reached Burger on the other side of the van.

“Let’s leave Dasha a message so she knows where we are if she comes back and doesn’t see us.” Burger pulled out his agent and typed a quick text to her, then put his arm back down and looked at Vang0. “You’re gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine, I mean, how many people can be in there? It’s so small” Vang0 assured his friend.

They both began walking towards the building, now completely used to the heavy smell of methane in the air. They walked in and Vang0 was suddenly overwhelmed by just how overcrowded the place was, he had never seen so many people in such a small place.

“You know what, thinking about it now, this wasn’t a great idea.” Vang0 started turning back.

Burger grabbed his arm to stop him, “no slushie then?”

“They probably don’t even have it.”

“Maybe they do and you’ll never know, maybe this mall is the one where there’s a slushie place that sells the best slushie you’ll ever have in your entire life and you’ll just have missed that opportunity.”

Vang0 looked back at Burger, “okay, that’s highly improbable, but you have a point.”

The crowd seemed impossible to navigate through, but in the end both of them managed to find their way around while looking for any potential places that could sell what they were searching for.

It wasn’t a big building, so it couldn’t have been hard.

And, as a matter of fact, a few moments later Burger nudged Vang0 with his elbow and pointed at the door of a candy store, “there!”

Vang0 looked in that direction and pushed through the crowd, towards the door.

The candy store looked colorful, it really stood out next to the neutral-toned stores that surrounded it. Inside, the walls were covered with stacks of every type of candy from floor to ceiling.

After stepping in, they approached the counter and ordered two slushies. Blue Raspberry for Vang0, and Sour Cherry for Burger. The woman at the counter seemed unsettlingly happy to take their order, but Burger didn’t notice it as much as Vang0 did.

Once they received their cups, they walked out, satisfied with their two slushies, and walked back through the crowd of people, carefully as to not spill it on the floor or on other people.

Even though Burger suggested they find a place to sit there and hang out in the mall, they quickly dismissed the plan since Vang0 didn’t want to spend any more time in that bustling place, and on top of that, the longer they stayed out there, the more likely it was that they would be recognized by someone.

“Better now?” Burger asked, once they were both sat down in the van.

“Mh-mh,” Vang0 took a sip of his slush.

They stayed in the van in silence for a while. They didn’t check the time to see how much of it was passing, but they finished their slushies and and then just sat there, without saying anything, glad to be in each other’s presence. Vang0 couldn’t understand why, but Burger’s presence, even when he didn’t say anything, made him feel more at ease.

Abruptly, both of their agents received a message.

As Vang0 checked his agent, he saw the time - 3:47 PM. They’d been there for  _ hours _ .

The message was from Dasha. It read:

“Nebula street, 18. Leave the van on Valiance road and walk here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> first of all, this is the playlist that vang0 and burger are listening to, the songs that i mention are specifically "summer nights" by siamés and "rocketman" by elton john. the playlist was made by @littlealliekitty on tumblr, they also have a burger chainz and a dasha playlist who might make an appearance :eyes: who knows,,,
> 
> second, don't worry, we did not get rid of dasha, just be patient, i've got everything planned
> 
> third, my tumblr is @cyberdumb
> 
> fourth, y'all i learned how to put links in ao3 notes !!!!!! lmao


	6. Fortress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so in this chapter there's a character, Janus, who is non-binary and uses the neopronouns ve/ver/vis/vis/verself, i thought it would be nice to introduce a character who is enby like me and uses my pronouns,, although i kind of fell into the "non-human non-binary" character cliché,,, but i'm non-binary so i'm allowed to do that lmao
> 
> i also kind of introduced the concept of cyberpsychosis, which is an mental condition that exists in the cyberpunk universe, i wished i could've written more about it but i didn't want the chapter to feel like a lecture, so [feel free to read about it on the cyberpunk red wiki if you're interested](https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Cyberpsychosis). (cw: the cyberpunk universe in itself is inherently more violent than ours (an i mean it's **very violent** ), and cyberpsychosis is villainized in this universe, which could be triggering for people with real psychosis or other mental health issues, read at your own risk)

Dasha had been walking for a while, to the point where she’d gotten somewhat used to the smell of the polluted air. She usually enjoyed listening to the sounds of the city, such as people talking with each other, even shouting and fighting, or cars occasionally driving by, sometimes with music blasting from the speakers.

Night City was perfect for this pastime, the amount of people having fights on the streets was perfectly balanced with the rhythm of the cars passing by and occasionally honking at the pedestrians, just to bother them. That’s mainly what Night City was like when the sun was still up.

But Dasha realized that Los Angeles had a different rhythm, it was faster, louder, messier. More mechanical, less melodical. It didn’t please her as much as she wished it would.

She could tell that the only reason people on the streets weren’t killing each other, was because everyone was aware that everyone else had as many guns as them. And they flaunted these guns proudly. She wanted to start walking faster, but something in her told her that it would’ve made her suspicious, or more vulnerable. The last thing she wanted was to be noticed at all, let alone seen as an easy target.

So, she reached into her backpack to grab her red headphones, who were connected to her agent, put them on and pressed play on her playlist.

_ Faintly, I’ll go _

The fabric of the jacket rubbing against itself had been bothering her, but the music drowned out that sound, along with everything else, as a slow melody played in her ear.

_ to take this head on. _

She kept walking with her head up focusing on the music, while maintaining some sort of awareness of her surroundings, so that she could remember where she was actually going.

Hundreds of steps and several songs later, she found herself, finally, where she had been meaning to be, Fortress.

Fortress was not just a neighborhood, it was the neighborhood where all the rich people of Southern California lived and hung out at. Maybe she didn’t know the rest of the Metroplex that well, but she knew everything about Fortress. She had been there many, many times.

Dasha spotted immediately the place that she was looking for, Raysun Café, where she used to hang out with all the rest of the elite class’ bratty teenage children, who always had something to say about everything, that she had been forced to frequent when she was a teenager herself.

She put her headphones down, hanging on her neck. She never thought she would be willingly coming back here, but she just  _ needed  _ to see it one last time. Her brain wouldn’t let her find peace until she’s stepped in there and seen what had become of it. One last time.

Although, she could’ve probably thought it through more, since as soon as she stepped in, the whole place fell quiet, and everyone turned to look at her. Every single person, customer or employee.

Rich people all know each other. They didn’t know her or recognize her, therefore she wasn’t rich. Therefore she didn’t belong there.

Her plain, very visibly cheap, poorly made, dark tinted clothes stood unexpectedly out in contrast with the vibrant colors and bold stylistic choices coming from everyone else inside the place and the café’s furniture itself.

When she started slowly walking to the counter, pretending nothing was happening, she ordered a black coffee, who cost a ridiculously high price, and yet she knew that it tasted so good it would be worth every cent. She grabbed her drink and, as everyone present followed her movements with their gaze, she quietly sat down on a bright pink stool by the window, in front of a small bright yellow counter, and put her headphones back on, sipping her coffee, while everyone at the café went back to their conversations.

“You had some nerve coming here.”

She heard a voice behind her call her, she could hear it even through the music, and most important of all, she could recognize it even through the music.

After pausing the music, Dasha put her headphones back around her neck and slowly turned around, still sipping her coffee, and wasn’t surprised to see who had called her.

Long, lustrous golden hair, and by golden I mean  _ golden _ , perfectly pointy nose, electric blue cyber eyes. Yeah, it was ver.

Janus Bennett-Yamka.

Janus had been one of Dasha’s closest friends here in LA. They used to see each other every few weeks, when Dasha would visit Fortress, but they mostly talked over video calls. They both had pretended to like each other the entire time, though.

Ve was arrogant, pretentious, always wanted to be the center of attention, and everything had to be exactly how what ve wanted.

What really broke their relationship, ultimately ending all contacts with each other, wasn’t the fact that Dasha had lost her elite status, it wasn't her becoming a poser and changing her legal name. No, it happened way before, when Janus had started getting all those cybernetic augmentations on vis body.

Ve just couldn’t stop getting vis body butchered, first an arm, then the other, then both legs, then the eyes, to the point where ve was more cyber than human. The first person that Janus cut off was Dasha, so she had no idea what had happened to ver from there.

The first thing that Dasha noticed when she turned around, was vis clothes, no sleeves and shorts, clearly chosen specifically to show that both of Janus’ arms and legs were cyber.

Dasha knew ver well enough to realize that ve could’ve been useful to her after all.

“Hey, what’s up?” Dashas asked, casually.

“Who are you to talk to me like that?” Ve said with an assertive tone, “leave immediately, you don’t belong here.” Dasha caught a glimpse of Janus’ eyes glitching.

The last thing Dasha needed was to provoke a rich and spoiled brat who thought ve was above everyone else, especially since she didn’t know how close ve was to going over the edge of cyberpsychosis, which mean that the encounter could easily turn to violence, but her mouth was too fast for her brain to stop her from saying “I can go anywhere I want.”

“No, not here.”

“Why don’t we go outside and talk about it,” Dasha stood up, standing half a foot taller than ver, and leaned in close to ver before adding, “Janus?”

Upon hearing those words, Janus’ eyes, despite being cybernetic, widened in disorientation. “Who are you?”

Dasha considered her new idea: since Janus didn’t know her new name, or her new face, both of which had been smeared all over the news for the past morning, she could tell ver who she was without risking being outed as a criminal right there.

Janus didn’t know, and ve didn’t have to ever know what Dasha actually looked like, or what her real name was.

“It’s Maddie.”

Vis expression morphed from confusion to shock in a second, “Maddie? As in Madelaine?  _ That  _ Madelaine?” Upon seeing her nodding, Janus’ face one again morphed, into disgust this time, “what has happened to your face?”

“It’s a really long story, that I do not at all have the time to tell you now.”

“You’re… poor? And you look different?”

“Okay no need to rub it in, you look different too,” she pointed out.

Ve got suddenly quiet at those words, lowered their gaze and bit the inside of vis flesh cheek. When ve looked up, ve’s piercing eyes stared into hers for a moment, as ve tilted vis head slightly. Dasha could tell that those few words really struck a chord for some reason.

She sat back down, inviting Janus to do the same with a small hand gesture. Ve refused to sit down next to her, and raised vis human eyebrow at her, “what are you doing here?”

“I’m on a trip,” and that wasn’t a complete lie after all, “to see you,” she added before taking a sip of coffee. A bit of persuasion never hurt anybody.

Dasha was well aware that Janus knows how to get a cheap but good quality fake ID, but she couldn’t just ask ver, she had to find a way to subtly slide it into the conversation.

“Me?”

“Yeah, we haven’t talked in ages. How have you been?”

“You walk in here with your usual arrogance, a completely different face, and ask me how I’ve been?”

“You were the one to cut me off completely.”

“And I don’t regret it.”

Screw the “sliding it in subtly”, she didn’t have time to deal with this conversation. She grabbed Janus by vis cold, robotic arm and dragged ver down to her eye-level. “Listen, Jan, I don’t wanna be mean to you ‘cause I know you have that whole cyberpsychosis shit to deal with and I know that it’s not easy stuff, but I really need-”

Janus raised both eyebrows and stood back up, pushing away Dasha’s arm and recomposing, “who told you I have cyberpsychosis?”

“I figured, by the way you started acting after you got your brand new limbs,” she stated as she gestured at vis arms.

“Well, you figured wrong, I never went over the edge, and after therapy I got actually better, so I’m doing fine now, as if I’ve never had any issues to begin with” ve shrugged and raised vis head.

“Oh so you’re just choosing to be a dick right now?”

“What do you want to tell me, Madelaine?”

“Okay, I need you to do me a favor.”

“Oh, so that’s the real reason why you’re talking to me,” ve opened vis hands with a smug smile on vis face, “what do you need? Money? New clothes?”

Dasha stood up again, now looking directly into Janus’ eyes, with a stern look on her face, “I don’t want any of your stuff, all I need is your knowledge of the city.”

Ve seemed genuinely confused, “my knowledge of the city?”

“Yes,” Dasha paused before continuing, in a whisper, “I need to know where I could make a fake ID, I know you used to have one, and you probably still do,”

Janus was taken aback by that question, it was definitely the last thing ve had expected to come out of her mouth, “why do you need that?”

“For reasons you don’t need to know.”

“I’m not gonna tell you,” ve put vis hands on vis hips.

“No, you  _ are  _ gonna tell me.”

“Why should I?”

Dasha was starting to lose her already limited patience, “because I’m asking you to.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.”

“What do I need to do to convince you to tell me?”

“Just tell me what you’re gonna do with it.”

“Pretend to be someone else,” she answered aggressively, hoping it would be enough, “what else would i need that for?”

Janus tilted vis head back and breathed in deeply, “are you seriously doing something so terrible you can’t tell me?”

“I can’t trust anyone right now, especially you.”

Ve considered her response for a while, and finally nodded, ve didn’t have the patience to spend all day trying to extort this information out of her, “I’ll tell you if you tell me your agent number, then.”

“Why?”

“You owe me one. I will contact you if I need something.”

She pursed her lips and breathed out of her nose, they’d be out of the state by the end of the day anyways, “sure, I’ll give it to you as soon as you tell me.”

“73 Nebula street, it’s a tech store on the outside, you have to tell them that you’re there to buy the cheapest white ‘trodes they have.”

Dasha couldn’t believe that she had gotten that information so easily, “th-”

“Your agent number,” ve raised an eyebrow.

“Right, right,” she did as she had been told. Then she took another sip of her now lukewarm cup of coffee, “well, uh, I’m… gonna go then.”

Janus smiled at her as if they hadn’t almost had a fight in the middle of a café, “see you soon, Maddie.”

Dasha spat out a “sure, see you”, and walked quickly out of the store, putting her headphones back on.

Out of the door, she looked back and saw Janus going back to vis place at a table, she turned back to the road and set the GPS on her agent to 73 Nebula street, then sent a text to Burger and Vang0 about the place.

It was only 15 minutes away, luckily for her, she crossed the road, being careful as to not get run over by any of the intoxicated drivers that she knew were common in the city. She crossed the invisible border between Fortress and the next neighborhood, Southern Heights, right when the song in her headphones changed.

Saying that she was worried because of that interaction was an euphemism, even though the chance that Janus would figure out that she was Dasha wasn’t high at the moment, but she still felt as if ve would figure it out eventually, and blackmail her. Ve had her number, and even though Dasha regretted giving ver her agent number, she knew it had been worth it to get that information. They had to get out of California as soon as possible.

After walking for several minutes, following the instructions on her agent, she could see a tech store only a few dozen feet in front of her, on the left side of the street. As she walked towards it she noticed a van coming in the opposite direction, and recognized it as Burger’s van.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the playlist i mentioned is [this one](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2lBM66kpce2HxWhYbZMkbg?si=pQxIprbVRLWBE-yo0X6lqQ) by [@littlealliekitty](https://littlealliekitty.tumblr.com) on tumblr
> 
> follow me on my main tumblr blog [@cyberdumb](https://cyberdumb.tumblr.com) or on my writing blog [@cyberdumbest](https://cyberdumbest.tumblr.com)


	7. It's okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes this is a short chapter, i wrote it in one sitting yesterday and edited it today, but it feels finished like this and i didn't wanna force anything

Dasha turned her freshly made ID card in her hands, and observed the picture of someone that she knew was what she looked like at that moment, but didn’t recognize as herself on the top left corner of it.

She was sitting on a stool, and watched as the remaining two cards were handed to Vang0 and Burger by Kass, the woman that had greeted them when they walked into the small, but somehow cozy, empty tech store.

Kass was a relatively short, but well built woman. Her large shoulders seemed intimidating to them at first, but as soon as she started talking, they realized she was actually a friendly person and there was nothing to fear about her.

She listened to Kass and Burger’s conversation, and figured out that he was transferring to her the sum of money that they’d previously decided on for the cards.

Vang0 stepped out of the backroom door, followed by the other two. “How much d-” he stopped suddenly on his steps as he saw a blinding light flashing outside the store’s window, followed by the deafening sound of a lightning hitting the ground, the two events being close enough to make him understand that the lightning had struck relatively close to the store.

“Of all times, did it have to rain right now?” Dasha walked out of the door and looked outside, where the sudden thunderstorm had just started.

“Better now than later at night,” Burger tried being positive and attempted at comforting Dasha by putting his hand on her shoulder.

Kass walked out of the backroom and sat back at her counter, unsurprised to see that the store was still just as empty as before the trio walked in, besides the four of them, “don’t worry, it’s one of those quick summer storms, it’ll be gone in a matter of minutes. You can wait in here, if you want.”

The last thing they’d expected was for her to propose that, but they gladly accepted the invite to stay in the store until the storm ended.

“I was saying, how much money do we have left?” Vang0 turned to Dasha and lowered his voice tone, so that Kass wouldn’t hear them. They sat down on the floor of the store.

“Enough for a few days, but we’ll have to find some jobs once out of here”

“You think we’ll find any?”

“I…” Dasha lowered her eyes, “I hope.”

“We’ll find a way, don’t worry,” Burger looked at Dasha, then Vang0 with his most comforting smile, “we will.”

Vang0 smiled back at Burger, then he scratched his cheek before remembering that he wasn’t supposed to, otherwise he would ruin his make up, and quickly pulled back his hand. He checked his reflection in his agent’s dark screen and was relieved to find out that he hadn’t ruined anything, “let’s get out of here tonight instead of tomorrow, let’s wait for the sun to set, then we just leave. I can’t wait here anymore.”

Burger looked at Dasha, waiting for her opinion on the proposal. She considered the idea, then replied “we could do that, Burger?”

“I’m on board”

Another lightning struck outside, less loud than the other one.

“Actually, it’s a good idea, the quicker we get to Arizona, the more time we have to find some sort of income,” Dasha looked up and saw that Kass had put a pair of headphones over her ears and was watching something on her computer screen.

“What if,” Burger leaned into the small circle the three of them had created on the floor, “we go to Flagstaff first, and see if we can sell anything at the flea market?”

“There’s a flea market at Flagstaff?” Dasha asked surprisedly.

“There’s a city called Flagstaff?”

Burger raised an eyebrow, “you guys didn’t know? I went there a couple of times with my family, it’s not big but it’s something.”

“What could we even sell?”

“Well, you have a lot of junk in your van…” Vang0 suggested, looking at Burger, then quickly added “...no offense.”

“No it’s true, I have a lot of junk that I don’t need.”

“Then it’s decided,” Dasha nodded.

Vang0 squeezed himself in his jacket and looked outside the window, as the rain was pouring outside. The muffled sound of drops violently hitting the ground could’ve had a soothing effect on the anxiety that was once again plaguing the back of his mind, if it weren’t for the yellow-ish color of the rain itself, that he could see through the window, reminding him that that rain was more dangerous than it seemed.

He exhaled and rested his chin on his bent knee, being careful as to not ruin his make up. He hadn’t noticed that both Dasha and Burger were looking at him.

Burger’s hand went to his back and gently caressed him, which finally felt soothing to him, “you okay buddy?”

“I’m just… thinking.”

“Uh-oh,” Dasha tried to laugh it off, adding sarcastically “that’s not good.”

Vang0 chuckled and lifted his head to look at her, “I’m just wondering… what if we’d never left Night City? What would’ve happened if we just went to Harp Co. HQ?”

“That’s a really good question,” Burger kept comforting Vang0 with his hand on his back, “but there’s no way to find out the answer to it, so don’t think about it too much. What matters is that the three of us are together right now, and we’re alive. And once we get to Arizona we’re gonna have lots of fun.”

“Yeah, we’re gonna be okay, don’t worry,” Dasha wanted to participate in helping him, but her unsure tone betrayed her.

Burger turned to her with an apprehensive look and put his free hand over hers, “we  _ are _ gonna be okay, Dash.”

She agreed with a nod and raised an angle of her mouth in a small smile.

They sat in silence for a while, before Burger looked out of the window and noticed that the rain had been slowing down, and was about to stop completely, “look, it’s raining less than before,” he pointed out.

Once the rain stopped completely, they all stood up, ready to leave the store.

“Let’s put the masks on, I know that the van is close, but methane mixed with acid rain is not something I wanna risk breathing,” Dasha stated as she pulled out her gas mask from her backpack.

They put their masks on, and politely waved at Kass before leaving the store.

“Wait,” Dasha stopped Burger from opening the van door, she grabbed the end of her jacket’s sleeve and covered her hand with it to open the door for Burger, “I know it could be mostly harmless, but it’s better not to touch it, even if it’s seemingly safe.” She did the same for Vang0 and then stepped into the van herself.

Burger took his gas mask off and turned to his two friends, glad to have finally all three of them back in the van, and asked “where are we going now?”

Vang0 looked at his agent, “it’s almost 6, maybe we could just go back to the parking lot and just chill for a few hours.”

Dasha fixed her hair quickly, checking herself in the van’s mirror, “yeah, it’s probably for the best.” Burger started the van, and stepped on the gas pedal, directed back to where they’d initially stopped earlier that day.

The rest of the evening was completely uneventful, they ate Scop again and that was pretty much it. Vang0 decided to take a small nap, lulled by the muffled sounds of the city starting to go back to its usual noise after the storm, which was much more bearable from inside of the van with the windows rolled up.

“So, what did you guys do while I was away?”

Burger turned to Dasha, who was sitting sideways on her seat, with her back laid on the door and her legs crossed up so she could face him, “we just got some Slush… and drank it in the van” he quickly added as he saw her starting to protest the fact that they had gone out, “we just went out for a few minutes and came back right away, barely anyone saw us.”

“Did you talk to him at all? About how he’s doing… and that haircut...” Dasha’s tone was concerned, she never thought she’d care like this about Vang0, but seeing him constantly so bothered, worried her.

Burger sighed deeply, “we’re not his parents, Dash-”

“-I know, I know-”

“-but yes, I did try talking to him, he didn’t really feel like talking so we just got the Slush and listened to some music together. He’s gonna be okay,” he assured, “about that, where the hell did you go?”

Dasha knew that question was about to come, “I just- I just went to Fortress. I needed to see it for one last time.”

“I thought you hated that place?”

“And I still do, but it just felt weird being here and not passing by.”

“Met any of your old rich friends?” He asked, jokingly.

Dasha shrugged and looked away from him, “better not to talk about it.”

Burger understood her message and turned his gaze to his window, where he could see the sun slowly starting to set.

Vang0 opened his eyes just as the sky became fully dark, and sat up in his backseat, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He looked in front of himself, where Dasha and Burger had visibly been sitting in silence for a long time.

He looked outside and was glad to find out that he’d slept a long time, “wha’ time is it?”

“About 9:40” Dasha replied quickly, without turning her head to face him.

Burger turned to Vang0, “should we get going?”

“Let’s get out of here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on my writing sideblog [@cyberdumbest](https://cyberdumbest.tumblr.com), and on my main blog [@cyberdumb](https://cyberdumb.tumblr.com) on tumblr


	8. Road trips are supposed to be fun, guys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i can't write emotionally charged scenes, so if the whole chapter feels like a robot trying to emulate human emotions it's because it is. hi, my name is less and i'm a robot here to conquer the univ-
> 
> if there are typos or grammatical mistakes or inconsistencies no there aren't. simply turn your head the other way. i can't afford a beta and i feel bad making someone beta for me for free so if there are mistakes they are actually major plot points trust me everything is intentional

Los Angeles at night looked exactly the same as when the sun was up. The streets were crammed by people walking, running, talking and arguing. No matter how dark the sky had gotten, the trio could still very clearly see the fog of pollution plaguing the streets as they drove through the neighborhoods, directed towards the south-east side of the city.

Vang0 looked out of the window and observed how the neon signs were brighter, bigger and there were way more of them than in Night City. He passed a hand through his now short hair, he still hadn’t gotten used to it, and he knew he would not get used to it for a long time.

Slowly the neon lights became rarer to see on the street, the buildings more distanced from each other. Until they crossed the city border once again. Out of Los Angeles, and half-way out of the state too.

The landscape changed. It was deserted now, not a single person or building around. As if they’d entered a parallel dimension. As if they’d never even been in Los Angeles at all. But when Vang0 looked back, through the rear window, he could see the city glowing from a distance.

“Vang0,” Dasha’s voice caught both his and Burger’s attention, “are you okay?”

“Why are y-”

“It’s a yes or no question. Are you okay?”

Vang0 didn’t know what to say. It was the second time that day that Dasha had shown to be worried about him, he was starting to think that she cared.

“Dash,” Burger started saying under his breath, “maybe you shouldn’t-”

“I… don’t know.” Vang0 interrupted him. It was the truth, he didn’t know.

Burger quickly did a whole 180 on his approach to the current situation, seeing how Vang0 had responded, “Vang0, I think that if you talked to us about how you feel we could help you,” then he glanced at Dasha, “but you don’t have to feel pressured to talk if you don’t feel ready to.”

“But you could say it now, if you need to.” Dasha insisted.

“Or you could say it now, sure. But you don’t need to.”

“But you should. If you wan-”

“I haven’t streamed in almost two days,” Vang0 said abruptly. He was tired of having to listen to them trying to churn the words out of his mouth because they couldn’t just mind their own business, so he might as well tell them everything, no?

“I know it’s dumb to you guys, because you have no idea what I’m talking about, but I haven’t streamed in almost two days. I haven’t moderated Jumptrash in more than a day. For the past two years, ever since I woke up in the warehouse, the first thing I did in the morning was logging onto Jumptrash, moderate, stream.

“Every time I have free time, moderate the forum. Every time I do something, stream the whole thing. That’s it, that’s all I did. Because it’s the only thing I know how to do. And I haven’t done it today.” He lowered his eyes, unable to look up and meet either Burger’s gaze from the rearview mirror, or Dasha's eyes, “and I feel like shit.

“I miss it, I miss talking to people on the forum and playing Sixnite. I couldn’t even do the Vang0 Bang0 sign” as he said that he put both of his hands up, crossed, at the sides of his face, signing VB with his fingers, “at anyone today, because if I did I’d get arrested.

“And there’s this constant… fear.” He attempted to look up, but his eyes went immediately back down, “I’m afraid that they’re gonna find out who we really are, they’re gonna know that we’re us and they’re gonna fucking shoot us all dead, even if we leave California. It took me two entire years to finally be happy with my life, I had a home in Night City and I left and I don’t know when I’ll come back.

“You wanna know how I feel? I feel like...” Vang0 hesitated before finishing the sentence, “I feel like I don’t exist anymore.”

A complete silence fell inside of the van. Neither Dasha nor Burger knew what they were expecting, but they weren’t expecting Vang0 to flat out say everything like that. Not that it was a bad thing, they were glad that he’d taken that weight off his chest, they just didn’t know how to help him all of the sudden.

The silence lasted almost a whole minute until Vang0’s patience ultimately cracked, “see? What was the point of telling you everything? You guys don’t even know what the fuck you’re supposed to say to that.” he raised his voice, “‘Cause you’ve got nothing to say, not to me at least. Stop saying that you care about me if you don’t even care when I finally tell you what’s wrong.”

Dasha swallowed, she would never admit it, but she did regret asking the question. She didn’t know what answer she was expecting. She turned to Burger, expecting to see him somewhat hurt by those words.

She was right. Burger’s jaw may have been made of steel, but she would’ve sworn that he was frowning.

The darkness of the deserted landscape made the whole scene sadder. Vang0 felt… pathetic, but that wasn’t a new feeling for him.

Burger sighed softly, “Vang0, I know what you’re talking about-”

“-oh sure-”

“Vang0. I had to go through the exact same thing you’re going through right now,” his tone was calm and collected, Dasha wondered how it was possible for him to not lose his patience.

“No, you haven’t. I’ve lost everything once and I’m losing it again.”

“And what did you think I felt like when I had to leave the farming commune to come to the city, where I didn’t know anyone?” Burger raised his voice, “you have no idea what I had to go through before I even met you. Having to readapt to a new life like that wasn’t easy at all, Vang0, I know  _ perfectly _ what you’re talking about, okay?”

Vang0 stayed quiet.

“Before moving to Night City, I had a life, I had a family, friends, and I was surrounded by people who I loved and loved me back and that changed all of a sudden, because of something bigger than me that I couldn’t control,” his voice cracked on the last word. Dasha didn’t say anything, but slowly put her hand on his shoulder to give him security. “You  _ chose _ to come with us right now. Why didn’t you just say no?”

“Because… I...” Vang0 swallowed hard. He looked up, and Burger’s human eye was scorching through him, while the cybernetic eye was inspecting him. He didn’t have to say the truth, “because... I don’t know.”

Burger sighed, the road in front of him seemed endless, it was all the same, not a single bit of landscape to differentiate one mile from the other. “Okay, well, just know that I know what you’re going through and even though it all seems like shit right now, it’s gonna get better.”

“Is it really though?” Vang0 asked, and he could’ve sworn he saw Dasha mouth the same exact words.

“It is. You’re not alone, Vang0. You’ve got us,” Dasha wanted to say something, but something in her stopped her from talking.

For the first time that day, Vang0 was okay. He was right, he wasn’t alone. He had Burger with him. “You’re right. I’m sorry I said you don’t understand. I didn’t really mean it.”

“It’s okay, no need to apologise. ”

“Vang0, I know that sometimes I come off as cold and distant,” Vang0 had almost forgotten that Dasha was there, he winced when her voice caught him off guard, “but I really do care about you.”

Now that was a first. “Uhm...”

“I mean it. When we first met, I believed that I wouldn’t like you, but as I got to know you better, I found out that actually, you’re…” Dasha paused, she hesitated, not out of uncertainty, but rather out of awkwardness, because she’d never thought she’d be telling Vang0 this, “you’re pretty cool, man. You’re too cool to let that forum control your life.”

“Yeah, you’re so fucking cool, and you don’t need Jumptrash to be happy and to exist. You can just be yourself, y’know,” Burger added.

“I don’t even know what being myself means.”

Burger sighed, “Vang0, you’re more than just jumptrash.”

“I am?”

“You are.”

The silence that followed was… warm, somehow. That short conversation had helped Vang0 more than he expected it would. One would start to think that communicating really does work.

“It’s just that… I don’t... know what I’m supposed to do, I can’t do anything besides streaming and moderating.”

“Dude,” Dasha nearly yelled, “are you kidding right now?” she turned towards him and gestured at her own face, indicating her makeup, “I can’t believe you still don’t understand.”

Vang0 raised his eyebrow, not understanding, “...uh?”

“You’re joking, this-” she kept gesturing at her face, then pointed at his face, “this is not “nothing”. This is talent.”

He looked down briefly and then looked back up at Dasha, “what… do you mean?”

“Don’t you get it? You’ve got something! You can do whatever you want if you just put work into it, like- fuck, you changed both of our appearances with just makeup? That’s not something everyone can do. You’ve got more than what you think you do, and you can do something with this.”

“Like, what? Should I just become a makeup artist? Or something?” he asked in his usual I’m-pretending-I-don’t-care-but-actually-I-do tone.

“Do you care about makeup? Do you genuinely like doing makeup?” Dasha’s hopeful eyes stared at Vang0, who nodded in response. “Then yeah, become a makeup artist, or something else that has to do with makeup!”

“But M House-”

“Man, fuck M House,” Burger had listened to the last bit of conversation in silence, “they’ve got no idea what a great person you are. They got scared because you’re better than them.”

Vang0 leaned forward and turned to face Burger, looking up at him, trying not to smile, “you don’t really think that I’m better than them.”

“I do. You’re better than everyone else in the world.”

Vang0’s eyes wrinkled as the smile on his face got wider and he raised his eyebrows, “really?”

“Yes! You’re smart, you’re fun to hang out with and you’re creative as hell,” Burger paused for a moment, thinking about what to say next. “You’re cool.”

Vang0’s cheeks now had a soft red tint, luckily it was too dark for either of the other two to see it, but Vang0 could feel the rush of blood in his cheeks, so he leaned back. It definitely wasn’t the first time Burger had told him something like that. Burger is Burger, he’s always supportive and comforting. But this time was… different? Vang0… believed him.

The uncomfortable feeling in his stomach this time wasn’t anxiety. It was somehow positive.

Dasha tilted her head and leaned on the van window, staring out in the dark void of what was effectively the desert that covered the entire eastern side of Southern California. The world outside of that van looked… empty. It  _ was _ empty. There was quite literally nothing outside to see, except for the road in front of them lightened by the front lights of the van, and the stars and the moon outside.

Burger glanced at the music player, “you guys don’t mind a bit of music, do ya?” he asked, to which the other two responded with monosyllabic words. He picked his personal playlist and started playing it on shuffle.

Vang0 looked out of the window, to observe the stars, he inspected the individual stars, noticing how some of them were bigger and brighter than the others. He knew that it was because there were millions of lightyears between each star, but seeing it in real life was different than just  _ knowing _ this fact.

He wished he’d known more about constellations. He knew what they were, but he couldn’t figure out which were visible in the sky that night, if there were any.

The moon wasn’t quite full, but it was almost there. However, it was shining weakly, as if the moonshine had been lost to the environmental disasters back in the 2020s, now forever trapped in the gas filled atmosphere, and couldn’t be brought back anymore.

“What if we stopped in Denver?” Dasha asked after 5 different songs had played, “like we find some jobs there, get a house. Just stay there.”

Vang0 looked up at her “get a house as in…”

Burger glanced at his side, “...the three of us together?”

“Temporarily,” she added. Denver was nice, they could do Denver.

“It’s not a terrible idea, though. I have family in Denver.”

“You do?” Dasha turned her head to Burger.

“Not very close relatives, but I’ve talked to them.”

Dasha nodded, “good to know, it’s important to have connections already. Vang0?”

He distractedly asked, “mh?”

“What do you think about Denver?”

“Uh, yeah, sounds like a cool plan.”

Dasha tapped her fingers gently on her leg and nodded, “okay, good. Have you guys ever been to Denver?”

She already knew what Vang0 was about to say, “I wouldn’t know.”

Burger shook his head, “I... haven’t.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Dasha sighed deeply. This was going to be hard.

None of them added anything.

Somehow the air inside of the van became simultaneously tense and hopeful. All three of them were thinking the same exact thing: get out. Get out of there, then think about it later. They only had to get out of California, everything else was an after-thought. It didn’t matter. Get out. As soon as possible.

Dasha looked at her agent. No signal. They’d been driving for almost two hours, which meant that they were two more hours away from the state line.

She heard in the back the sound of a can being opened, and when she looked back she saw Vang0 drinking from a can of Spunky Monkey, a sweet carbonated drink that Dasha hated deeply, but Vang0 had forced her to buy earlier that day. She stretched a hand towards him, signing at him to let her get a sip.

Burger yawned quietly, his slightly tired eyes briefly glanced at Dasha drinking, “d’you guys have any energy drinks in there?”

Vang0 rummaged through the shopping bag and pulled out a can of Cirrus Nix, opened it and reached his arm between the front seats to hand it to Burger, who grabbed it and held it in one hand while keeping the other one on the steering wheel.

“Don’t fall asleep on us, Burg,” Dasha joked, to which both Burger and Vang0 chuckled.

“I won’t, no worries,” he reassured them with a smile, before taking a sip out of his can.

Once Dasha handed him back his Spunky Monkey can, Vang0 leaned back down on his seat, then quickly got back up and leaned towards the front seats, poking his head between them, “I… thanks guys. For… earlier.”

Burger downed half of the can in one sip, “hey, what’s the point of havin’ friends if you don’t tell them how you feel so they can find a way to help ya’ out?”

“You’re so right,” Dasha stated in her low voice.

Something that Burger still couldn’t explain to himself, was the fact that Dasha had been the one to initiate the whole conversation, it was unusual, that didn’t seem like her. She had never cared about other people’s feelings, let alone Vang0’s. No offense to him, but it was true.

“Dasha,” Burger already regretted calling her as soon as he noticed that he’d gotten her attention, but it was too late to go back now, “speaking of, did something… happen?”

“Something, like what?”

“Like… I don’t know,” he wanted to go easy on her, “something.”

Dasha passed nervously a hand through her green-dyed voluminous hair and didn’t look back at Burger, “I’m fine.”

“That’s not what I asked. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Vang0 didn’t buy it, “ever since you left earlier, you’ve b-”

“I’ll be okay, I promise. You guys don’t need to know everything.” She nervously looked down at her agent, which felt like a ticking bomb on her wrist.

Maybe not now, but one day, someday, maybe tomorrow, or maybe in 10 years, Janus would call her for a favor. She wasn’t scared, she was just worried. Worried that she’d have to confront Janus again? No, no she could handle that, she already had. Janus was not scary, ve never had been.

Scared that the favor might involve something - or someone - else from her past? Yeah, she was fucking terrified of that.

“That’s alright,” Burger reassured her, “but if in the future you want to talk about it-”

“I’ve got you, I know.”

She turned to Burger and raised an angle of her mouth in a gentle smile, which then turned into a yawn. Burger reached his hand towards her as he’s still holding the can, “wanna finish this?”

She grabbed the can without saying anything and downed the rest of it in one gulp. Then, she leaned back on her seat and closed her eyes, now fully focused to “My Iron Lung” by Radiohead playing in the background, from Burger’s playlist. It was such a Burger Chainz song.

Whatever was going to happen, they were going to be okay. Even if they were still miles away from the border. Everything was going to be fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [this is the burger chainz playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/51zYRgNLtgf2zs2C8a9TM4?si=WrQhgjkWSHOJbGYHBJP4rA) by [@littlealliekitty](https://littlealliekitty.tumblr.com)


End file.
